Lecture series to examine Jewish Holocaust

Aspects of memory, education and community will occupy the 1999 Jewish Heritage Lecture Series, sponsored by the George K. Mosse/Laurence A. Weinstein Center for Jewish Studies at UW–Madison.

The first of the lectures, Tuesday, Sept. 14, will consider “The Battle for the Memory of the Holocaust.” Guest scholar Michal Govrin of the School of Visual Theater in Jerusalem will talk about the impact of the Nazi atrocities 50 years later on moral behavior, religious beliefs, and personal and collective memory.

Govrin, author of the 1997 Kugel Literary Prize-winning novel “The Name,” has established a reputation as one of the world’s leading directors of experimental Jewish theater, often drawing upon traditional liturgical sources.

Zev Garber of Los Angeles Valley College will approach the Holocaust from a different perspective Thursday, Sept. 30. His lecture, “Shoah at the University: New Considerations in Holocaust Education,” will examine various academic approaches to teaching such an emotional and sensitive subject. Garber says he will pay particular attention to achieving the sometimes precarious balance between passionate involvement and scholarly objectivity.

The final lecture of the fall, “A Global Community: The Jews from Syria,” will use the Jewish community in Aleppo, Syria as a model for maintaining cultural cohesion in the 20th century. Speaking Tuesday, Nov. 16, will be Walter Zenner. An anthropologist at State University of New York-Albany, Zenner specializes in Jewish life in the Middle East and urban anthropology. His new book on the Jews of Aleppo will be available soon.

The free lectures, open to the public, begin at 7:30 p.m. in Memorial Union. Check Today in the Union for the room location.